Embodiments herein generally relate to printing devices and their control systems, and more particularly to methods and systems that monitor the current supplied to an electrostatic brush during operation to detect scratches on a photoreceptor.
Photoreceptors are vulnerable to being abraded or scratched during handling (e.g., install of photoreceptor or other components) or printing (e.g., contacting components such as cleaning blades and/or electrostatic brushes). The abrasion or scratch level on a photoreceptor can be hard to assess or detect visually by the unaided human eye, especially if the lighting conditions are not optimal. Further, on many printing devices, it may be difficult to maneuver around a photoreceptor belt mounted on the photoreceptor module to search for the scratches. It is not uncommon for an operator to remove the photoreceptor belt to troubleshoot a printing machine. Unfortunately, this greatly increases the likelihood of further damaging the photoreceptor belt (i.e., inducing a scratch).